Portage County, WI Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Sec. 7.1.2(1)(b)6 of the Portage County Zoning ordinance permits home occupations as a use in the R2 Single Family Residence District when the occupation is incidental to the residential use of the premises and involves no external alterations to the home. No more than 50 percent of just one floor of the dwelling can be devoted to the operation. The business cannot sell or offer for sale any article not produced in the home occupation itself, cannot keep or sell stock-in-trade, and cannot employ anyone besides a member of the resident family.

A related, separate use, professional offices, follows a similar 50-percent-of-one-floor cap but allows up to two non-family employees in nonprofessional roles, per Sec. 7.1.2(1)(b)7. The same home occupation standard is cross-referenced and applied in other zoning districts, including the A4 General Agricultural District, which permits home occupations and professional offices as specified in Sec. 7.1.2(1)(b)6 and 7. Because these standards apply through the county's zoning ordinance, they only govern the towns that have adopted county zoning; Stevens Point, Plover and the other cities and villages in the county set their own home-based business rules.